THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
July 10, 2023 at 19:01 JST
Three people were killed, another is feared dead and several others were missing on July 10 when a stalled seasonal rain front dumped a record level of heavy rain in northern Kyushu.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a special heavy rain warning covering eight municipalities in Fukuoka and Oita prefectures as of 10 a.m.
The agency said linear rainbands of cumulonimbus clouds have formed over Fukuoka, Oita and Saga prefectures, raising the risk of heavy downpours over an extended period.
The land ministry said several rivers have flooded in northern Kyushu.
The maximum hourly rainfall in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, on July 10 reached a record 91.5 millimeters as of 10 a.m.
“We are in a completely unpredictable situation,” Fukuoka Governor Seitaro Hattori told a meeting of the prefectural disaster response headquarters.
A landslide buried a home in Soeda, Fukuoka Prefecture, around 3:40 a.m., killing a woman believed to be in her 70s.
Two homes were struck by a landslide in Karatsu, Saga Prefecture, around 6:20 a.m. A woman was found in the wreckage, but she was in a state of cardio-pulminary arrest. Authorities were unable to contact two men living there.
In Kurume, workers are trying to rescue residents from homes damaged by a landslide. But they could not reach at least one person.
In another part of Kurume, a man was found dead on a path between rice paddies. He was apparently swept away after he got out of his half-submerged car.
In Hirokawa, also in Fukuoka Prefecture, a man in his 70s was found in a small truck in a waterway. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
In Fukuoka Prefecture, eight municipalities issued the highest-level evacuation alert covering 415,000 residents as of 11 a.m.
The same evacuation alert was issued for about 12,500 residents of Nakatsu, Oita Prefecture.
Bullet train services were suspended on certain sections on the Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen lines in the morning of July 10.
Heavy rain is also expected in the Chugoku, Tokai and Hokuriku regions, as the seasonal rain front remains through July 11.
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Wood and rocks are scattered in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, on July 10. (Minako Yoshimoto)
